This invention relates to a method for disposal of spilled fuel oil or crude oil containing a large amount of a disposal inhibiting substance such as sea water.
Most fuel oil and crude oil is transported over sea by very large tankers. In recent years, many accidents have occurred wherein the fuel oil or crude oil has leaked out of the tanker during transport due, for example, to tanker damage.
The fuel oil or crude oil which has spilled out spreads over the sea and pollutes it, destroying the ecosystem.
This fuel oil or crude oil is mostly recovered by aspirating the layer of oil floating on the ocean surface using a suction apparatus. The recovered fuel oil or crude oil is usually disposed of by incinerating it.
Immediately after an oil spill, the fuel oil or crude oil floats on the surface of the water. However, after some time has elapsed, it becomes mixed with sea water due to the force of the waves, and gels to form a high viscosity solid. This gelation is particularly conspicuous when the oil from the spill is struck by strong waves and mixes with sea water when it is washed up on beaches.
Fuel oil or crude oil which has gelled in this way cannot be recovered by a suction apparatus due to its high viscosity, so recovery must be performed manually.
However, even if the fuel oil or crude oil is successfully recovered, the recovered mixture contains from approximately 80% to 90% sea water which effectively prevents its disposal by incineration, due not only to the sea water itself, but also to the quenching action of the contained chlorine.
It might be thought that, in order to make it possible to incinerate the fuel oil or crude oil, the water contained in the solidified oil could be removed, e.g., by evaporation. However, it is an almost impossible task to remove the sea water (approx. 10 times the amount of oil) contained in several tens of tons to several hundred tons of fuel oil or crude oil. Moreover, the fuel oil or crude oil mixed with the solid oil covers the sea water contained therein which interferes with its evaporation.
It might also be thought that removing the chlorine having a quenching action would assist combustion to at least a small degree, but, as recovered spilled fuel oil or crude oil has a high viscosity and does not disperse in water, chlorine cannot be removed from this solidified oil.
For these reasons, it is extremely difficult to dispose of spilled fuel oil or crude oil, and in particular, fuel oil or crude oil of high viscosity. It is therefore an object of this invention, which was conceived in view of the aforesaid problems, to provide a method for easily disposing of high viscosity, solidified fuel oil or crude oil containing a large amount of sea water.